The heat has broken somewhat this week, with today's temps
to be ONLY in the mid to upper 90s. Weekend temps reached a high of 106,
making running during the afternoon almost impossible. I also umpired
this weekend so my runs were in the morning. Mike Slade and I went out
both Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 and while the humidity was high, the temps
were only in the mid 80s. Nonetheless, running in the heat continues to
take all of the kick out of me. My pace has slowed pretty drastically and
I can't go over about 10 miles.
All things considered, I remain pleased with my
fitness. My knee isn't bothering me when I run (although it continues to
talk to me), I feel pretty good about how much I am running, and while I have
not followed the training schedule like I wanted, I continue to take the
requisite days off.
My issue with the training schedule has been one of
mileage. Baseball is taking a large part of my weekends, so some of my
long weekend runs have been cut short. Coupled with the heat, I haven't
put in the amount of mileage that the schedule calls for. This is
probably a good thing, considering my proclivity for injury.
On Sunday, Mike and I ran 6 miles. About.
And I have no idea how long it took. I normally run with my phone
(RunKeeper) in an armband. RunKeeper keeps track of speed, distance, and
route, and uploads every workout to the cloud, allowing the user to
review and compare past runs. Sunday, I decided to just run. No
metrics. Running, like baseball, lends itself to measurement.
Distance, elapsed time, temperature, weight, time of day, altitude and
climb, and so on. Metrics also tend to put pressure on you. Why am
I going slower than last run? Should I turn off the timing while I wait
for light to change? Did I go 5.98 miles or 6.02 miles? Runners are
generally an anal-retentive group. Ever notice that most runners run with
a watch and when they stop at a light or cross street, turn the stopwatch off?
I probably have known this for a long time but wasn't
willing to let go of the security of the watch but on my run on Sunday, without
any pressure of the stopwatch, I felt better than I have felt for a long time.
I didn't get tired and I wasn't worried about how long or how far I ran.
I just ran.
Maybe I'll try it again.
One more thing - here is an interesting link that
Mizuno put up. Truthfully, I'm not exactly sure what to make of it.
Drop me a line if you "get it".
Again, thanks for reading. If you ever get to
KC, call me. I'd love to run with you.
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